Home is Where the Bark Is
"Home Is Where The Bark Is" is the first episode of 101 Dalmatians: The Series. It first aired on September 13, 1997 and on the 1998 Silver Angel Award for "Excellence in Media" along with being Nominated for the 1998 Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production Synopsis Nanny is taking all the Dalmatian pups for a walk in the city of Topstownwhen all of a sudden, she gets mugged, the Dalmatian Pups chase after the mugger with Lucky in the lead before they get separated due to heavy traffic. Lucky corners the mugger in an alleyway, however is quickly over powered. When the Other Dalmatians arrive, the Mugger flees and Lucky gives Nanny her purse back. Back in the Dearly’s Brownstone, Roger claims to have had enough of the pollution and crowds of the city, especially now that Nanny’s been mugged. When questioning on when the family is ever going to get a place in the country like they always talk about, Anita & Perdita show Roger that the Smedley Farm is up for sale; Roger agrees to make an offer. This news doesn’t go down well with Lucky, Cadpig and Rolly though; Lucky loves the adventure of the city, Rolly knows every deli dumpster in town and Cadpig fears of leaving their city friends behind. The Dearlys soon arrive on the farm and the pups take a look around, Lucky first meets Mooch and whilst questioning on Thunderbolt, Mooch reveals he doesn’t know what cable television is, much to Lucky’s shock. Rolly is petrified to learn that there aren’t any restaurants for miles and Cadpig doesn’t make the best first impression with the cows, Duchess & Princess. Cruella then arrives, revealing she lives right next door to the arm and attempts to buy the farm from the Dearlys, offering double what they paid, Roger turns her down and Cruella drives off setting herself a memo to come up with a scheme to steal the farm. During the night, Lucky, Cadpig & Rolly find they can’t sleep with all the farm noises, causing Lucky to snap at one point, Rolly complains on how hot it is and Cadpig claims to have trouble getting centred, the three agree the only place that they’ll feel a sense of place is back in their Brownstone. On their way there, they come up against Cruella, who chases them through the streets, but is only able to grab their collars from them. The Dalmatians soon arrive back at the Brownstone but are locked in by Cruella. Cruella then hires Horace & Jasper to deliver an anonymous ransom note to the Dearlys, so that to get the pups back, the Dearlys will have to sell the farm to Cruella and they give her own money back to pay the ransom. Hearing that the farm might have to be sold, Pongo & Perdita send out a message via the "Twilight Bark" for help in finding the missing pups. Meanwhile, Rolly (once complaining on being hot) is now cold, Cadpig still can’t feel centred and Lucky begins to miss the family. The following morning, Lucky tries to get the door opened by learns it’s locked. After other unsuccessful escape attempts via the chimney and toilet, the pups see Horace & Jasper enter the house to collect the puppies when Roger & Anita pay the ransom. The pups trap the Bad guys in the attic and race back to the farm before Cruella can buy it. Getting a message on the barking chain by a fisherman’s dog, the Dalmatians and farm animals attempt to delay Cruella as long as they can, eventually resulting in Cruella’s car getting crushed in a combine harvester. Cruella is able to catch the ups again, however right on the Dearly’s doorstep, Cruella bluffs her way out of it by saying she found the pups wandering about, before leaving, setting herself another memo to come up with another scheme to steal the farm. Cadpig thanks Duchess & Princess for helping, before reviving her nametag distribution program, Rolly learns he is able to get some snacks from the apple trees and Lucky is happy to be home. Cruella's Memo's "Come up with a diabolical scheme to steal this Farm!" "Come up with another scheme to steal this Farm!" Notes *This is the debut episode of the series *The episode itle is a twist on the phrase “Home is where the Heart is”. *Unlike the novel & movies which are set in England, this series seems to have moved the characters to America. *The series isn't a continuation on either the original animated or live-action movie, but instead takes elements and plot points from both: **Roger makes video games. **Cruella states Anita works for her. (She got fired in the live-action movie.) **Cruella claims that the old owner of the farm was called, Smedley. So it’s believed that the Dearly Farm is the same farm that the Colonel, Sgt. Tibbs and Captain lived in the animated movie. *When the clip of Cruella trying to buy the farm is reshown in “Humanitarian of the Year”, Cruella’s writings on the cheque are rewritten and made more clearer. *Spot makes a cameo in the episode, but doesn’t have any spoken lines. *Horace compliments Nanny’s eyes; this marks the start of a relationship he will share with Nanny throughout the series. *Whilst trying to escape through the chimney, the pups get covered in soot, Lucky claiming on how it feels very familiar. This is of course, a reference to the climax of the original animated movie. *The Fisherman’s Scottish Terrier resembles Jock from Lady & The Tramp. *When speaking to the Colonel, Sgt. Tibbs has a different voice than he does for the rest of the series. *This episode features Touser’s only spoken line in the series. *After getting her ar crushed, Cruella says; “(she) picked the wrong week to quit smoking.” This is a note to how Cruella doesn’t smoke as much as she did in the series (although there are some episodes where she does) along with being a reference to the Zucker & Abrahams comedy, Airplane!. Cast *Lucky/Secretary - Pamela Segal-Aldon *Cadpig/Rolly/Anita Dearly - Kath Soucie *Roger Dearly/Sergeant Tibbs/Eris - Jeff Bennett *Cruella de Vil - April Winchell *Jasper Baddun - David L. Lander *Horace Baddun - Michael McKean *Pongo - Kevin Schon *Perdita - Pam Dawber *Ed Pig/Colonel/Towser/Thug - Jim Cummings *Dumpling - Christine Cavanaugh *Mooch - Danny Cooksey *Scottish Terrier - Clancey Brown Video Category:Episodes